Sweetwater 420 Extra Pale Ale | SweetWater Brewing Company

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Reviews by JeleReviews:

More User Reviews:

From the can because it is fresher that way (no light damage and no oxygen head space) This is a beer I can enjoy. A cross between a pale ale and one of those hop frenzied IPA. Nice colr, nose and mouth feel. Dry flavor hints of malt and slight citrus hops flavor. One of my favorite ales since the 80's (the others Sierra Nevada Pale, Harpoon IPA, SA Rebel Ale)

Sweet water 420. LOL BLAZE #AMIRITE??? It's ya boy down_to_clown_69 comin atchu with a review from beyond the grave. I'm stoned as a boned abalone pinecone from Cologne right now and I don't think anyone knows...right...?

I digress, this beer is a winner. Just like our fair lady, Mary Jay, this drink is the perfect gateway beer to the bigger and better things. You have that wussy friend who says "IPA's aren't for me!" Well slam this mamajamma in his or her face and say "RIP DAT ISH, WERE GOING TO MAGIC MOUNTAIN!"

Magic Mountian is real friends, and it's a watering hole where the Sweetwater 420's are on special, the bar is pizza, and the waitresses are actually genuinely interested in your sad, pathetic lives.

Smell: Smells very malty, with almost no hop presence. Light smelling, with only hints of bread and yeast.

Taste and Mouthfeel: The taste is weak. Very little hops, and all I can taste is a bread/corn flavor the doesn't do it for me. Nothing else. No complexity, not even tasty or flavorful. Light and boring tasting. The mouthfeel is medium-bodied.

Drinkability and Overall: I don't like it. I'm a fan of any Pale Ale, but an Extra Pale? What does that mean? Extra hops? Extra flavor? Nope. Extra weak.

Fresh cold 12 oz. bottle, great label artwork, and custom raised lettering is always a nice touch to make a great impression. Best by date is 8-16-17...I'm pretty close to Atlanta, so no worry...Had a pint can the other night at a long hot Saturday festival, craved more today...

The malts come into the aroma gracefully after the citrus introduction for a great balance. I'm typing as I imbibe this fine brew, and it's almost gone already!

The flavor is crisp and not as citrus as the aromas would imply, but has that slightly bitter end that demands you have more. More evergreen in the taste and nice carbonation, smoothing out to a dry, but wet finish. 10 to 1 over SN Pale.

This is "dry hopped with a fat stash of cascade hops." Something in common with my other favorite APA.

I find this to be a refreshing crisp, clean delight! Glad there are 5 more in the box.
A must try for any fan of APA style brews.

My rDev is pretty high, so I must really love beer. Or, I know what to look for in a brew. Either way/both.

Sweetwater 420 is bitter and beautiful. One of the best beers Georgia has to offer, have drank way too many of these, if there is such a thing. Get this beer! No, like seriously, go get this beer if you haven't already.

Re-reviewing since it's been a while; my previous scores were 3.5/4/4/3.75/4. The bottle I'm drinking and reviewing now has a best-by date of June 5th, 2016, which just happens to be my birthday. XD

Looks-wise, this is nicer than I remember -- a decent layer of white foam formed when pouring, and the color is a nice shiny dark-golden sort of thing. Not entirely clear, there's a bit of haziness to it (flashlight reveals that this is due to suspended particles floating about), and there's a good number of rising bubbles from the bottom. Foam shrinks to a thin layer on top within a couple minutes, leaving a few thicker spots and a thicker ring around the edges (with some trails on the side of the glass marking where it was when I first poured.) Leaves a whole lot of lacing behind on the inside of the glass as I drink more of the beer.

Smell is fairly mild, but what's there is pretty nice; piney-ish hops and a bit of a bread and bread-crustish malt background. Hops stand out much more than the malt, though (sometimes I can actually get a whiff of them before even moving my nose in to take a sniff), which is to be expected for an American-style pale ale.

Taste is similar to the smell, but with the malt having a bit more of a presence. Actually, everything seems to be more present in the flavor than the smell now that I think about it. Hops come through right away, but rather than just piney they're a nice pine/citrus blend. The hops blend into the malt after that, and it's a bit bready like the smell but also has a grainy, almost nutty-ish sort of quality to it along with the bread-crust thing, which definitely seems to add some depth to the malt. There is a slightly odd flavor in there too, not really noticeable until the aftertaste, but that isn't always present. There's some hop bitterness that lingers in the aftertaste as well, at least after the halfway mark, and it seems to overpower the slightly odd flavor that I can't quite identify. Overall this tastes pretty good, though it definitely comes across as a bit of a milder beer than when I first tried it -- fresher that time, or just my taste buds getting more used to hoppy beer over time?

The feel is pretty nice here -- it's very drinkable but doesn't feel too thin or watery, just light enough to drink through quickly while substantial enough to let you know that it's definitely a beer (and not a "lite/light" beer, either.) There's an interesting crispness to this that I don't get in every beer, almost makes it seem like it's very cold even when it's had some time out of the fridge and isn't actually that cold temperature-wise anymore.

Overall, while not as much of a "wow, this is really good!" beer as it was when I first tried it, this is still a nice beer that I'm glad I picked up again. Having it bottled rather than draft, it actually reminds me a good bit of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale -- maybe not *quite* as good, but it has some of its own unique little things that make it worth having every now and then. I'll have to have it on tap again at some point and see how draft/bottle versions compare with my current taste buds.

I think 420 is a great session beer. It's readily available so that makes it easily to pair with a quick BBQ or pizza dinner, etc... That said its an awesome beer to join with such and not to bad to just go out and have one with the buddies. Why does beer have to meet a requirement of standards compared to the most hoppy or malty. It's a good and tasty beer, enjoy it for what it is, not what it isn't. Fuck the mentality that all beers and styles should taste like this or they suck.

Pours a light hazy amber with a thin wispy head,aromas of biscuity malt and somewhat floral.Taste is well balanced some lightly sweet bicuit malt and a touch of grassy hop in the finish.A pretty easy quaffer nothing spectacular but a solid well rounded ale,nice toasted malt and a decent hop bittering.

Appearance  This one poured a terrific-looking bright orange in color with a beautiful off-white head that came up brilliantly and left tons of film on the inside of my Snoqualmie Falls pint glass.

Smell  The hops are laid back. They seem to be a mix of light fruits and spices with a little bit of herbs thrown in. The grain is a fairly good size. It is extremely mellow and matches well with the hop profile.

Taste  The spritzy hops are a bit bigger at the taste. They are fruity with some herbal notes. The grain is in the background now but does a good job as the supporting cast.

Mouthfeel  This is a bit shy of medium-bodied but very smooth and fluffy in the cheeks. I especially enjoyed the carbonation to this one. It is live but at ease in the mouth.

Drinkability  Boy, talk about a session ale! This went down like silk.

Comments  I liked this better in the bottle than I did when I had it on-tap in Atlanta last year. A big heartfelt thanks to UncleFlip for including this in the WTF BIF.

A: Pours a crystal clear amber gold color with a very thin white head. Head dissipates quickly to just a ring of bubbles and skim of white.

S: Light grain malt smells mix and mingle with a great balance of hops and light yeast. Smells like really fresh beer...Mmm.

T: Tastes much like it smells; the malts are mated just about perfectly with light bittering hops. The flavors are solid and smooth, rolling over the tongue with a slight malty sweetness and finishing clean with a bit of a dry hop linger. There is a clean 'fresh' taste that makes this very enjoyable.

M&D: Light carbonations contribute to a light smooth mouthfeel that is really easy to drink. Very enjoyable; would be great on a hot sunny day.

T - Much like the smell with a nice amount of citrus hops, but nothing that someone who is not used to hops would find offensive. Clean malt taste, not a lot going on but nothing bad. Had a little metallic twinge at the end, might be from carbonation.

M - A little over carbonated for the style, I think this made it finish a little bitter. Feels pretty thin also, but not really out of style, just very attenuated.

D - This is a beer I think would appeal to a lot of people and can be refreshing and quaffed with ease. Good session beer for sure.